Gonzales Bill to Protect Youth from Deceptive Interrogation Tactics Clears Committee

Legislation would prohibit interrogation practices used to coerce youth into falsely confessing to crimes

DENVER, CO – Yesterday, the Judiciary Committee approved a bill sponsored by Senator Julie Gonzales (D-Denver) to protect youth from deceptive interrogation tactics in Colorado. The bill, SB22-023, aims to put an end to practices that deceive kids accused of a crime into making false confessions.

“We cannot allow law enforcement to deceive kids into making false confessions,” said Sen Gonzales. “These interrogation tactics not only unfairly target and harm our youth, they keep law enforcement from bringing the real perpetrators to justice. This issue reveals how our broken criminal legal system takes advantage of the most vulnerable, and I’m proud to carry this policy which will end these deceptive practices.”

Currently, it is completely legal for law enforcement to lie to kids during an interrogation to get them to confess to crimes in Colorado. Falsely telling a juvenile suspect that physical evidence or eyewitnesses establish their guilt is likely to produce a confession, even if the juvenile is innocent. Youth are uniquely vulnerable to these coercive techniques. 

“The numbers are clear: youth are highly vulnerable, which is why they are statistically overrepresented in false confession cases nationwide,” said Dr. Saul Kassin, City University of New York. “Children and adolescents are more easily manipulated than adults; more compliant to figures of authority; more suggestible when confronted with false evidence; and more intensely focused on the present, especially under stress. Subjecting children to the kinds of interrogation trickery and deceit built for adults substantially increases the risk of a false confession.”

SB22-023 enhances transparency by requiring all juvenile interrogations to be recorded. The bill also requires a confession obtained using deception to be declared inadmissible at trial, unless a judge finds the statement or confession  was given voluntarily despite the deception.

Kids are more likely to give false confessions when the police claim to have evidence of their guilt. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, in the last 25 years, 38 percent of youth who were exonerated after being convicted of crimes gave false confessions. 

“Confessions obtained using the false evidence ploy weaken their reliability and voluntariness. Any investigator would prefer to obtain information through a more transparent and rapport-based approach,” said Dave Thompson, a former law enforcement officer and current President of Wicklander-Zulawksi & Associates. “The use of deception in interrogations is not only unnecessary, but also damning to the interviewer’s credibility and strategy.  Fostering community relationships, creating trust with residents and encouraging cooperation in investigations must be based on transparency, honesty and credibility.”

The bill is supported by the Interfaith Alliance of Colorado, Together Colorado, and the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar.

SB22-023 now moves to the Senate floor for further consideration. Track the progress of the bill here.